West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-08-19
NASSAU.

a correspondence Vi enS O' w
scribes New Providence, where Mas
sau is situated, as coral island, like
all the Bahamas, made up of the dead
skeletons of untold millions of little
coral polyps, from one-quarterto one
half an inch long. The island there
is rock, covered very sparsely with
very thin soil. 1t seems wonder
full how plants find enough soil to
grow in. Take cocoanut orchard
for Instance: The ground, instead of
being covered with grass, is nothing
but bare rock, very rough and un-
even, the pieces of rock being of the
most irregular shapes and in size
from small knob the size of ones
head to a water-worn mass as large
as a mans body. Each cocoanut
palm is planted in the centre of a
circle about two feet in diameter.
Over this circle is scattered some
soil, and then a stone wall about
foot high is built around it to keep
the rain from washing away the soil.
The soil is then covered to a foot's
depth with clippings of sponges,
about the cheapest thing to be had,
to protect it from the too intense
heatof the sun. Under all these un-
favorable circumstances the young
palm shoots up. At first there is no
main stem with leaves, as in our Or
dinary trees-only a lot of beautiful,
broad green fronds, like a fern, which
all start from the earth at one spot
and grow up to height of seven or
eight feet, each dropping gracefully
outwards towards the stone wall.
Next the bunch of fronds begins to
be uplifted from the ground on the
end of a short stem. The stem grad
ually increases in height until at
length you have the adult palma
slender upright stem forty to sixty
feet high, without branch bearing
at its top a bunch of great rustling
leaves, each about ten feet long. with
clusters of cocoanuts between them.
A cocoanut orchard here is essen.
TALLY a lot of stone tubs filled with
soil, each with its tree. From such
an orchard is obtained very fair
idea of the sort of land of Nassau.
An orchard is, of course, q cultivated
spot, where each tree is set out and
cared for. The general run of the
land is just as rocky, but is covered
here and there with enough soil for
seeds to take root. In many places
the country is quite thickly wooded.
Go into one of these woods, however,
and you walk on the bare coral
rock.
Nassau, the town, has a popula-
tion oe from 10000 to $4,000. The
one large hotel, the Royal Victoria,
is a very comfortable looking place,
girdled with broad piazzas. There
are many places of interest in the
town. In the sponge markets are
collected huge piles of sponges hook
ed up from the shores of this and
neighboring islands. The sponges
are first dried, and then q negro sets
to work with big pair Of shears
and cuts off all the dirty and poor
parts, and the sponges are ready for
the market, which is nothing but a
big shed on the wharf Of course
there are barracks here, and the Eng
lish officers are seen now and then
cantering along on the little island
ponies, with their sabrcs nearly
touching the ground. There are a
few white soldiers, but many are ne
groes in Zouave uniform. In the
markets are fish, scraggy meat, any
quantity of fruit, all grown on the
island, the chief fruits being oranges,
bananas, cocoanuts and sapodillos,
which look like potatoes and have
sickening sweet taste. The pineap-
pie season is just opening. The ne
groes who tend the stalls are, in
many instances, native born Afri
cans. Some twenty years ago
slave ship or two were captured by
British men-of-war and the slaves
were liberated. A great many of
them settled on the Island of Nassau.
They are very black, wear rings in
their ears, and have holes in their
lips and three or four great oblique
seams on each check. They talk in
an almost unintelligible modification
of En0llsh.